


No Regrets

by PeacewithanS



Category: Dishonored (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-11
Updated: 2014-02-11
Packaged: 2018-01-12 00:12:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1179597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PeacewithanS/pseuds/PeacewithanS
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>requested fic - "in which the outsider grants corvo's wish to be left alone, on purpose, until the lord protector kind of regrets it."</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Regrets

Whomever said that “Absence makes the heart grow fonder” was a fool.

 

“I’ve had enough. do you hear me? enough!” Corvo bellowed the words across the void, his mask abandoned in favor of anger. At first there was nothing- nothing but silence that weighed down his words. “I refuse to put up with it anymore!” at last, The Outsider appeared, a curious expression on his face.

“and what exactly has made the situation so undesirable?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” The Outsider didn’t bother humoring the question. “You, You’re unbearable!” The Outsider disappeared and materialized behind him, legs crossed as he sat in the air, relaxed only in pose. His stare was intense and his tone was clipped.

“My being has upset you.” he seemed to dwell on this idea very intently, chewing his thumb nail- rings glinting in the void’s unnatural light. Corvo squinted, still fuming as he looked at the leviathan. how was this new information? he constantly followed him about, trying to get his attention like a spoiled child. he pulled him from sleep, from work, from everything just to bother him with questions and mystical philosophy. he was through with it.

“Yes, it has.” he snarled with a force that made the outsider straighten and look down with an odd expression. this one, Corvo had never seen before. “and I’d appreciate it if you left me alone!” The Outsider closed his eyes slowly, put a hand over his heart, and bowed from the waist.

“If that is what you wish, my dear Corvo.” the last words hissed in his ears like steam on a hot skillet, and the deity’s eyes felt like fire on Corvo’s skin. thunder rolled somewhere, though it was muffled within the void.

Before he could even breathe, he was back in Dunwall, lightning was flashing all around. The sea could be heard churning in the distance. There was no rain, no sounds of whales, no rats… he was alone in the alley.

Alone.

Just like he wanted.

Just like he always wanted.

\---

A week passed without a single dreamy visit to the void- he was beginning to forget the finer details of that already impossible land. Corvo was pleased- all of the benefits and none of the hassle. it was all going splendidly.

The more time that passed, the more he’d forgotten what the void was like. it was like trying to grasp at sand with open fingers. he remembered lampposts and debris, not much after that.  
he collected runes, partially because he needed the power and partially because it gave him something to do on his missions.

The first rune he collected since the outsider’s absence- he was thrilled that the outsider had even bothered listening to him-held nothing but silence. he tucked it away for later.

The second rune wasn’t nearly as satisfying as the first, but he didn’t need the distraction of The Outsider anyhow, it only slowed down his work.

The third… caused an insignificantly small part of him to expect some sort of comment. ‘Having fun by yourself, corvo?’ or ‘isn’t this exactly what you wanted?’ he stomped back the idea hastily, shoving the rune into his pocket- it felt like a stone weighing him down as he trudged on through his mission. He didn’t need the outsider- hell, he’d collected dozens of runes, and he’d be given the silent treatment thousands of times. the outsider was unpredictable, the territory of being a god. What did he care?

The Outsider did what pleased with slow and careful movements, pulling strings carefully for the best reaction. He was never impulsive or unsure--he knew exactly what he was doing.

That must be why it bothered Corvo so intensely.

The fact that this silent treatment, the complete abandonment by a creature that made it his duty to speak to him when he found a rune- whenever he managed to seek out a shrine of his-had all but vanished without a word.

It bothered him more than it should, it drove him to the brink of madness, laying away tossing and turning on his suddenly unsatisfactory mattress. It was as though he was being denied any and every method of reaching the void- the only string that connected him to The Outsider was the black mark upon his flesh. he stared at it in the dim light of the rising sun. Another sleepless night, and he arose to another day of duty to his new lord and masters. Their voices were human, but their demands were anything but.

He collected runes like clockwork, snatching them up with only the smallest hesitation, stroking the engraved marks as though it was the very first one. they piled up on his desk, he ignored the morbid stares and gossip that hung on him heavier than the coat on his shoulders. the bone charms accumulated as well- stuffed in a box under his bed. closing his eyes and knowing these things surrounded him allowed him to feel as though he was sleeping. he briefly wondered if it’d be wise to shoot himself with a sleep dart, of if it’d even affect him anymore.

The runes sang- god, he never realized how much he’d despised that sound until he attempted to sleep atop of a chorus of them. He wanted to toss them back into the ocean, frankly- or bury them so deep into the earth he would never hear their song again, so choked by stone and dirt that they would suffocate and give him peace.

But he couldn’t. he tried throwing away a bone charm once- but he couldn’t even manage to make the throw once his arm passed his ear, as if someone was holding back his wrist upon the dock where he bellowed again, furious and distraught. he was alone, what was keeping him from continuing his life, now, besides the assassinations?

Did the torture come from the fact that there was no mysterious influence to reflect his moral compass now? that he was alone with his own free will?

 

Did he even have free will?

 

The questions were beginning to drive him insane. He collected all the runes, but it was an empty gesture.

\---

When the loyalists betrayed him, it simply gave him more time to think-- he was hoping, in his dying moment, perhaps laying in the rancid hole kicking away rats before deciding if he wanted to possess one or simply break out through the top, that maybe the outsider would return at last with some seething cut about his absence.

But there was nothing.  
Nothing but silence.

Perhaps that’s all he ever had to begin with. no Outsider, no power, no free will, nothing but his own reeling mind and his superstitious habits. the assassin rested, as this was one of few moments he had to do so before he entertained a god.

Or a bloodbath.

At last, He picked up a brick and tossed it at the covering boards above him, they splintered slowly before finally falling apart. with a quick blink, he scrambled up to the surface.

Perhaps he was alone, but he was not powerless.

His name was Corvo Attano, he had a mission, and he would see it through.


End file.
